Tigers 1 Blue Jays 5
Nice to win one again.
We got a great start from Max Scherzer. Five innings, gave up a run in the first on a double (well, a pop-up that no one got under) and a single, but allowed only one more hit the rest of the way and added three more strikeouts to his all-time total (now 9543, 11 short of Jason Verlander). I don’t know if he can get that many before the season ends.
Offensively, we did nothing until the fourth inning: Kazuma Okamoto walked to start it. Josh Smith doubled (hard
to believe we got him for Adam Macko, giving us runners on second and third. Ernie Clement hit a sac fly to tie the game. And Myles Straw lined a hard single to left for the game-winning run.
Myles was caught stealing after that, with two outs, not a bad idea. That gave Brett Bateman a fresh count to start the next inning. On the other hand, Bateman has been very hot, and the catcher is very good at throwing out stealers; maybe let him hit?
But we got one more in the fourth, so it all worked out. Bateman singled. Nathan Lukes moved him to second with a bunt and beat it out. Vlad ground out, giving us runners on the corners. And George Springer singled Bateman home.
And a mess of Tiger errors got us two more runs in the fifth. Three errors, including two consecutive errors by SS John Peck (two of them on one play: a booted ball and then a throwing error). Nathan Lukes got an RBI.
We had nine hits, but only one extra-base hit: a Smith double. Bateman (at the top of the order) and Straw (at the bottom) each had two hits.
The bullpen did the job too:
- Mason Fluharty threw a quick sixth.
- Spencer Miles pitched two quick innings. They sent him out for the ninth, but he didn’t have it, giving up a single and a walk. He just wanted Louis Varland to have a save opportunity.
- Varland got a strikeout, a lineout, and a strikeout (Brandon Valenzuela got him the out by challenging a full-count pitch called a ball, but it was just the upper outside corner).
Valenzuela wasted a challenge in the first inning, on a 1-1 pitch, which caused trouble later when Springer wanted to challenge a pitch and quickly decided not to, in case he used our last challenge. After George struck out, he watched it on an iPad and was angry that he didn’t challenge.
I don’t know that it was a needed win for the Jays, but it was a needed win for me.
Jays of the Day: Scherzer (0.16 WPA), Straw (0.15, who didn’t look pleased that Vlad poured water in his cleats) and Smith (0.10). And let’s give an honourable mention to Varland.
Other Award: No one.
Tomorrow is an off-day. Yay. And then the Jays head to the Heart of Texas (stomp stomp) to play the Rangers for three games.
